Reference is hereby made to two of my previous patents relating to abdominal benches, U.S. Pat. No. 6,544,154 (the '154 patent), filed on May 14, 2001, which issued on Apr. 8, 2003, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,884,203 (the '203 patent), filed on May 19, 2003 and issued on Apr. 26, 2005. Both are commonly owned and are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
Abdominal benches, or ab benches, have become well known and used within the exercise equipment market. My '154 patent disclosed an ab bench having a minimum number of pivots and a sliding weight that permitted both negative and positive resistance to be obtained by a bench user. My '203 patent, described, in part, an ab bench with multiple pivots that allowed a constant gap to be maintained between the seat and torso cushions during use of the bench. That was accomplished by using a plurality of pivot points around which the torso and its linkage members moved. It also allowed the torso and leg assembly to operate together when desired.
The present abdominal bench exhibits a streamlined construction and its operating linkages have been modified making the bench equally useful yet more desirable by being lighter in weight, having additional features in the foot assembly, in the sliding weight, and in the central moving member.